Woonhuis, Keizersgracht 431

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, in Dutch. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

Description

Introduction

A house dating from around 1665, whose facade arrangement is known from a rebuilding drawing dated 15 April 1895, in which it is depicted as the original condition. From the interior of this house, a painted beam ceiling came to light in the last decade of the 20th century. From this it can be deduced that on the bel etage on the left side there was a corridor separated with next to it a small front room and a larger space behind. No further investigation has been made into the subsequent building and occupancy history. It is further known that the property was rebuilt in 1895 and provided with a new front facade. This front facade was originally executed more richly than the present appearance suggests. The roof was also renewed at this time. Undoubtedly alterations to the interior were also made then and earlier. The painted ceiling was concealed behind an otherwise insignificant 19th-century stucco ceiling. The fine winding staircase on the left side also dates from the 19th century. In 1934 the property was altered by creating an extra storey whereby the original first storey was divided into two low storeys. Through use of the property as an office in the 1960s, the majority of the interior of the house, its layout and finishes, were further lost. The lift in the house dates from this period.

Description

A canal house built around 1665 consisting of a front house, a rear house and a very narrow, high extension on the left of the rear house. The space between front and rear house is built over. Behind the house is a small garden. The front house has a basement, a bel etage, three storeys (originally two) and a steep gabled roof with the ridge perpendicular to the building line between gable ends. The rear house likewise has a basement, a bel etage, one storey and a gabled roof with the ridge parallel to the building line between gable ends. The narrow extension consists of a ground floor, two storeys and a flat roof. This part has windows facing the garden and a blind rear facade. The front house is three bays wide with the entrance on the left side, for which there is a sandstone stoop with several steps and an iron railing. The 1895 facade is built in brick with accents of natural stone and plasterwork. Much of the original finish has disappeared, including a bay window. The windows of the third (originally second) storey still have their round-arched form, further a gable top with window with three-part tracery motif and a stepped spout gable. The partly visible rear facade of the rear house shows a blocked pilaster on the right corner and glazing-bar divided windows. In the interior of the house the simple beam layer above basement, bel etage and first storey is observable. Between the beams of the bel etage of the front house boards have been inserted. The boards are figuratively painted. This painting is the original painting from around 1665. A distinction can be made here between painting in a narrow corridor with hall on the left side, a small room at the front and a large room behind. The painting of the large room is executed in blue and white on a white background, in a somewhat naive style, with a loose, lively touch. The beams are only painted with a grey base colour. The composition shows the same theme per bay in its main layout, namely putti bearing garlands against a background of a leaf-pattern. In detail the putti, garlands and foliage differ per bay. The painting of the corridor and hall accords in style and execution with that of the large room, but shows per bay only a decoration of leaf scrolls. The small front room has a uniform green painting. It is still unclear whether this colour is original or was later applied over a (figurative?) painting. To the left rear in the front house is a 19th-century winding staircase running from the bel etage up to and including the third storey with beginning and ending balusters and a wooden handrail on balusters.

Valuation

The property is of general importance on account of building-historical and architectural-historical values. This importance concerns mainly the 17th-century shell and namely the masonry and beams of the basement, the bel etage and the first storey of the main house, shell and building mass of the rear house and furthermore the 19th-century winding staircase. Exceptional art-historical importance is accorded to the painted ceiling, beams and boards, of the bel etage, which can be called unique.